A connected effort? Ambitious editors pursue American ...

A connected effort?

Ambitious editors pursue American

periodical mathematical publication

1804-1878

CIRMATH Americas , 28 May 2018

Deborah Kent

Drake University

Two preliminary comments:

• Abstract adjustment: The existing list of American

periodicals that include mathematical content prior to

the 1876 founding The American Journal of

Mathematics suggests a series of discrete attempts to start a specialized mathematical journal. Today, I will

argue that a handful of mathematical practitioners in

fact participated in far more sustained and contiguous

efforts to start and sustain an elevated level of

specialized mathematical periodical publication in the United States in the first three quarters of the

nineteenth century.

• US territorial growth maps from Perry-Castañeda

Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/histus.html#growth.html

Key for US territorial growth maps

Earliest outlets for sporadic scientific publication

General Science journals

under society auspices

1. Transactions of the

American Philosophical

Society (1771)

Mathematical content was

surveying or astronomy.

2. Memoirs of the American

Academy of Arts and Sciences

(1785)

Applications of mathematics

to geography and navigation.

Publication centers mostly

align with population centers

From 1771-1834, 84 authors

published mathematics in the

Transactions, the Memoirs,

and Silliman’s Journal

Approx 40-50% college

graduates.

33 of the authors (41%) were

(briefly) college professors

10 of 33 listed as professors of

mathematics exclusively; 6 of

those 10 from West Point

f

Contributors of mathematics to general science journals

Mathematical publication in the U.S. before 1878

(from Cajori, Smith&Ginsberg, in Parshall&Rowe)

– The Mathematical Correspondent (1804-6) – The Analyst or Mathematical Museum (1808) – The Monthly Scientific Journal (1818)– The Ladies and Gentlemen s Diary (1820-1822) – The Mathematical Diary (1825 -1832) – The Mathematical Companion (1828-1831)

– The Mathematical Miscellany (1836-1839)

– The Cambridge Miscellany of Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy (1842)

– The Mathematical Monthly (1858-1860)

– The Analyst: A Monthly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (1873-1883)

– The Mathematical Visitor (1878-1894)

– The American Journal of Mathematics (1878- present)

The Mathematical Correspondent, 1804• Connected to Charles Hutton (?)

• 1801: Taught math at West Point

• 1802: Moved to NYC to launch The Mathematical Correspondent, modelled on The Ladies' Diary

• Baron proposed a graduated approach to content

• Posed problems of currency conversion, riddles, equation solving

• Quarrels, illness, etc. sabotaged the journal by 1806



– The Mathematical Correspondent (1804-6)

– The American Journal of Mathematics (1878- present)

•Established with goals of teaching, doing research, and training future researchers

Johns Hopkins University, 1876

President Daniel Coit Gilman

(1831-1908) promoted research

and research publication.

Locations of subscribers to Vol. 1 of the AJM

About 200 subscriptions in the US, as well as a number

in Japan, France, England, Canada, and Germany.

Price, John. Map showing the most direct commercial route from the Atlantic via L.

Ontario, to the province of Upper Canada, the north western states & territories, and

to the Mississippi. [New york, between 1836 and 1841, 1836] Map.

https://www.loc.gov/item/98688349/

For context: A railroad map from 1836

Philadelphia: National Railway Publication Co., c.1873; Carefully Compiled from

Original Sources for the Traveler's Offical Railway Guide

http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/railroads2/1875.htm

For context: A railroad map from 1873




?

– The American Journal of Mathematics (1878-- present)





“the facilities for the

publication of any kind [of scientific literature

in America] are

extremely restricted,

and have increased but

little during the last

fifty years.” (1876)Simon Newcomb



– The Mathematical Correspondent (1804-6) – The Analyst or Mathematical Museum (1808) – The Monthly Scientific Journal (1818)– The Ladies and Gentlemen s Diary (1820-1822) – The Mathematical Diary (1825 -1832) – The Mathematical Companion (1828-1831)

– The Mathematical Miscellany (1836-1839)

– The Cambridge Miscellany of Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy (1842)

– The Mathematical Monthly (1858-1860)

– The Analyst: A Monthly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (1873-1883)

– The Mathematical Visitor (1878-1894)


Reflections on this publication list:

• Incomplete, unclear compilation methods (nonetheless useful!)

• Early American journals often involve little-known, peripheral figures, sometimes undocumented, anonymous or hard to identify.

• Limited manuscript sources – Sparse evidence about journal finances, which seem central.

– Issues, subscription data, and circulation evidence often elusive.

• Types of periodical publications including mathematical content:

Almanacs (Q&A)

Educational journals

Mathematical journals

General scientific journals

Trade publications

Newspapers

• Recurring initiative for many of the periodical mathematical

publication appears to come from a handful of individuals.

Central characters… common woes

• Robert Adrain, Charles Gill, Benjamin

Peirce, Joseph Lovering, Simon

Newcomb, John Runkle, Joel Hendricks

• Despite initial optimism, these editors

encountered uneven readership,

financial trouble, editorial challenges.

• Their publications mostly did not

become self-sustaining and the fates of

these journals seem closely tied to the

life circumstances of the individual

editors (who were often overextended).

American periodicals including

mathematical content, 1800-1820

Dates Journal Editor Type Location

1804-

1806 The Mathematical Correspondent George Baron

M

(Q&A) New York, NY

May

1807 The Mathematical Correspondent Robert Adrain

M

(Q&A) Reading, PA

1808 The Analyst or Mathematical Museum Robert Adrain

M

(Q&A) Philadelphia, PA

1814 The Analyst or Mathematical Museum

Hans Hassler&Robert

Patterson

M

(Q&A) Philadelphia, PA

1818--

now The Maine Farmer's Almanac

David Young/Daniel

Robinson (math) A (Q&A) Hallowell, ME

1818--? Hutchins' Improved Family Almanac David Young A (Q&A) New York, NY

1818-

1819 The Monthly Scientific Journal William Marrat

M

(Q&A) New York, NY

1819--

now

The American Journal of Science and the

Arts Benjamin Silliman G New Haven, CT

1820-

1822

The Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Diary or

United States Almanac Melatiah Nash A (Q&A) New York, NY

• Escaped to the US after Irish rebellion of 1798

• Taught at York County Academy, Queen’s College (now Rutgers), Columbia College, and the University of Pennsylvania

• Vice-Provost at Penn, 1828-1834

Robert Adrain

(1775–1843)

Adrain’s Persistent Periodical Participation

• 1804-06: Contributed to The Mathematical Correspondent

• 1807: Edited The Mathematical Correspondent – Worked to elevate content and wrote about Diophantine problems

– Referenced work of the Bernoullis, Leibniz, Huygens, Euler, Lagrange, and French Academy of Sciences prize problems

– Aimed to teach readers what “real additions are made to the general stock of mathematical knowledge”

• 1808: Edited The Analyst or Mathematical Museum– Reprised some material from The Mathematical Correspondent

• 1814: Attempted to revive The Analyst – Recruited Hans Hassler and Robert Patterson to join existing

participants Nathaniel Bowditch, Melatiah Nash, Alexander Fisher

• 1818: Contributed to The Monthly Scientific Journal

• 1820-1822: Endorsed and contributed to The Ladies and Gentlemen s Diary

• 1825-1826: Edited The Mathematical Diary– Modest aims modeled on The Lady’s and Gentleman’s Diary

– Editorial transition => controversy => financial woes => annual publication => gap from 1829-1832 => competitor The Mathematical Companion => … The Diary collapsed

• 1831: Proposed American Diary of Mathematical and Physical Science– More mathematical content than The Diary “an extensive

collection of original researches …together with copies of literary notices, consisting of reviews of foreign and domestic scientific publications, and extracts from leading foreign periodicals”

– Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques, Annales de Mathematiques, and the Annals of Philosophy.

- No evidence of Adrain's ambitious journal seems to exist.

• 1836 -1839: Contributed to The Mathematical Miscellany and 1842: The Cambridge Miscellany of Mathematics

Adrain’s Persistent Periodical Participation

American periodicals including

mathematical content, 1820-1840

1825-

1826 The Mathematical Diary Robert Adrain

M

(Q&A) Reading, PA

1826--

1829 The Mathematical Diary James Ryan

M

(Q&A)

Philadelphia,

PA

1832 The Mathematical Diary Samuel Ward

M

(Q&A) New York, NY

1828-

1831 The Mathematical Companion John D. Williams

M

(Q&A)

1832-

1833 The Schoolmaster Rev. Timothy Clowes

E

(Q&A) Hampsted, NY

1836-

1839 The Mathematical Miscellaney Charles Gill

M

(Q&A) Flushing, NY

1842

The Cambridge Miscellany of Mathematics,

Physics, & Astronomy

Benjamin Peirce and

Joseph Lovering

M

(Q&A)/

R Cambridge, MA

1818--1850 The Maine Farmer's Almanac

David Young/Daniel Robinson (math) A (Q&A)

Morristown, NJ/Hallowell, ME

? -1934 The Maine Farmer's Almanac William Jardine A (Q&A) Morristown, NJ

1818--? Hutchins' Improved Family Almanac David Young A (Q&A) New York, NY

Ongoing almanacs:

Charles Gill, actuary and journal junkie

• Contributed regularly to Adrain’sMathematical Diary, gained reputation as a problem solver.

• In 1834, Gill founded the Journal of the Institute of Flushing to “stimulate academic achievement among secondary school students.”

• In 1836, started The Mathematical Miscellany “for the advantage of those desirous to progress in the important study of mathematics.”

• In 1848, the institute closed, so he worked at a bank and became an actuary in 1849.

< Charles Gill, self taught in mathematics, contributed to

The Ladies’ Diary, immigrated to the US in 1830 and

taught at an academy in New York.

The Mathematical Miscellany, 1836

• Gill wanted to steer American efforts in the direction of European mathematical trends

• Posed Diophantine problems and showed familiarity with mathematics of Laplace, Lagrange, Legendre, and Gauss

• About 10 contributors actively engaged at this level; The Miscellany printed 250 each volume

• 120 subscriptions at $5 per year required to sustain publication

• There were only 60 initial subscribers

• Dealing with submissions required editorial fortitude.

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